The invention relates generally to a ski.
More particularly, the invention relates to a ski binding, especially a binding for a cross-country ski.
A known binding has a ski boot retainer, that is, a structure for supporting and confining a ski boot, which is pivotable about an axis located in the region of the toe of the boot.
When skiing in hilly terrain, it is desirable for the ski and the boot to be biased towards one another, especially during turns. This is accomplished by means of a spring.
In a conventional binding, the spring is a torsion spring which surrounds the axis of rotation of the ski boot retainer. One end of the spring bears against the ski while the other end of the spring bears against the retainer. Accordingly, when the retainer is pivoted away from the ski, the spring twists and is stressed in torsion.
The preceding design has the disadvantage that the life of a torsion spring is rather limited. Another disadvantage of this design resides in that the resistance to pivoting of the retainer increases with increasing angle of rotation since the stress in the spring increases as the retainer pivots away from the ski.